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 Welcome to the Office
of Attendance Control
Mission Statement
The mission of the Attendance
Control Office is to increase the attendance rates in the Fort
Worth Independent School District by providing information, support
and services to the schools, the students and the community.
Contact Info:
Delena Doyle,
Assistant Director, Student Affairs
Phone: (817) 871-3192
E-mail: [email protected]
Department History and
Overview
- The Comprehensive Truancy Intervention
Program was established in January 2000. It is a collaborative
effort of the FWISD, Tarrant County, City of Fort Worth, Tarrant
County Juvenile Probation Deportment, Lena Pope Home, and other
social service agencies within the county and city.
- The goal of the program is to
insure students are in school, reduce truancy, decrease dropouts,
and increase state and federal funding dollars lost when students
are not in school.
- When schools open in August,
every student in FWISD is provided with a letter from the Tarrant
Country Assistant District Attorney advising parents of State
truancy laws and the potential of court action against them and
their children.
- According to State law, students
who are truant can be charged with Failure to Attend School and
their parents can be charged with Parent Contributing to Non-Attendance.
- The parents of students who
are reported to Attendance Control as having accumulated five
unexcused absences are sent a warning letter from the District
Attorney's office requiring they attend a meeting at Billingsley
Field House. This meeting addresses the State's Compulsory Attendance
laws and provides information on social services for families.
- An additional aspect of this
program is the Student Attendance Review Team (SART) meeting.
In schools, students with frequent absences and their parents
are asked to meet with the Assistant District Attorney, the Supervisor
of Attendance Control, the school's Stay-In-School Coordinator,
the counselor, the attendance clerk, and an administrator. These
meetings are usually very effective in determining the causes
for student absences.
- April 16, 2001 the School Attendance
Court opened in a building adjacent to Eastern Hills High School.
Municipal Court Number 6 is dedicated solely to hearing truancy
cases. City of Fort Worth Municipal Court Judge Sharon Newman-Stanfield,
two caseworkers and two bailiffs serve as the staff of the School
Attendance Court.
- In September 2001,the Board
of Education approved the Student Attendance Incentive Program
that awards schools for improving attendance, reducing truancy
and ultimately decreasing the dropout rate. Individual schools
could get thousands of dollars in incentive money and the district
stands to gain millions of dollars in state aid. Schools will
use the money to improve instructional delivery and enhance educational
opportunities in the classroom.
- In March 2004, the Comprehensive
Truancy Interevention Program was presented the MAGNA Award from
the National School Board Association at their convention in
Orlando, Florida. Fort Worth ISD was chosen as one of 23 districts
to be honored from 400 school district programs applying for
recognition.
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